The atmosphere in the hall was frighteningly depressing, and several of the new Death Eaters held their breath and dared not speak.
"You don't know who did it?"
After the mysterious man spoke, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Owner……"
Voldemort raised his hand to stop Bella from speaking, and continued, "It seems that someone is deliberately provoking me. Who do you think set the devil's flame?"
Who released it? How would they know? Maybe it was Lucius's enemy. And shouldn't they ask the person involved about this kind of thing?
Of course, the Death Eaters don't dare to talk nonsense, since this matter has nothing to do with them anyway.
"The possibility of Scrimgeour is very high. He deliberately spread the news, claiming that Malfoy Manor was burned because Lucius betrayed his master, so..."
"Skrimgeour is indeed a big trouble, but the possibility of him doing this is low." Voldemort did not think that this matter had anything to do with Scrimgeour.
"Master, this matter has nothing to do with the Order of the Phoenix, but I think Dumbledore may know something." Snape told the Dark Lord his opinion on the matter: "That night, Dumbledore asked me to find out.
Whether Lucius's wife and son are still alive, I feel like he probably guessed something."
"Oh, what a surprise." Voldemort stared at Snape and asked, "Severus, who do you think you are?"
"It's probably Albert Anderson's revenge." Snape said a name that surprised even the Death Eaters.
"You mean that damn Mudblood?"
"As far as I know." Snape glanced at Bella and continued: "Malfoy is placing a reward on him, and that night, his shop seemed to have been looted by some people."
"How could he..."
"Back then, when Lucius was getting married..." Snape looked at Bella who was gritting her teeth and reminded, "With that guy's character, he will definitely take revenge. I think it's very likely that he will do this.
Yes, it’s not difficult for that guy to figure out how to use the Dark Mark.”
There were dense whispers in the hall, and everyone suddenly realized that the mudblood named Albert Anderson seemed to have become their formidable enemy.
"Master, please leave this matter to me." Bella raised her hands high, "I have thought of a complete way to deal with that mudblood."
"Oh." Voldemort turned to look at Bella and said, "Have you already thought of a way?"
"Yes, Master, that mudblood has a fatal weakness. We can target his weakness..."
Snape suddenly understood why Malfoy Manor was burned down by fire.
"I leave that Mudblood to you, kill him at any cost, don't let me down again." Voldemort looked at Bella who was full of expectations, and finally agreed to give her the task of killing the Mudblood.
"Scrimgeour is more trouble than I thought." Voldemort looked at Yaxley.
"Master, because of Bones last time, Scrimgeour attaches great importance to his own safety. He currently lives in a safe house protected by the Loyalty Curse. It is said that the secret keeper is Dumbledore." Yax.
Leepo reluctantly introduced the current situation to the Dark Lord, "In addition to staying at the Ministry of Magic, Scrimgeour is surrounded by a bunch of Aurors every time he travels."
"We could try to control Scrimgeour's assistant and poison his drink?" someone suggested.
"No, Scrimgeour's food and drinks are all taken care of by a house elf. It's not easy to kill him by poisoning him. We can only slowly infiltrate the Ministry of Magic." When Yaxley learned the news, he also
Very helpless, "I suggest that you keep causing trouble for Scrimgeour and keep him busy and exhausted. This will definitely expose his flaws."
"Very well, let them take action," Voldemort agreed with Yaxley's plan.
…
Looking at the group of people who were packing their things, Cedric asked in surprise: "Are you planning to... suspend business?"
"Yes, the off-season is coming next. Even if we open the store, we won't be able to make much money. We might as well concentrate on owl mail order."
"Because of the last incident?" Cedric guessed the reason.
"The risk of continuing to open the store without taking the profit is high, so we simply suspended the store operation."
"What should I do if I run out of the dark magic defense items in the specialty store next door?" he asked with a frown.
"We will still provide goods to the specialty stores." Fred forced the packed cartons into his backpack and reached out to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
"Don't worry, we will give the goods to my dad in the future, and he will be responsible for delivering them to you." George patted Cedric on the shoulder and said, "By the way, this is a gift from Albert."
As he spoke, George handed Cedric a bottle of French champagne.
"Albert is back?"
"This is a gift he sent back." George shrugged.
"That guy might be traveling around the world with his wife now!" Fred said in a sour tone.
"If you are free, come over and help me pack the things on the shelves." Li Jordan threw the box on the ground and couldn't help complaining to a few people.
"Are you done with the work outside?"
"How is that possible?" Li Jordan couldn't help but rolled his eyes and said to Cedric, "There's someone next door looking for you."
"Then I'll go first. Thank Albert for me." Cedric smiled and walked away.
"Why did you just..." Shanna asked in confusion.
"That's to protect Cedric's safety," Fred shrugged. "Sometimes knowing too much may not be a good thing."
"I feel like you're talking about me." Shanna raised her eyebrows slightly, "Do I have to move there too?"
"Well, I suggest you move in together." A familiar voice suddenly sounded.
"Why do you always appear and disappear?"
"Well, I'm here to arrange Shanna's affairs." Albert said to Shanna: "Sorry, I got you involved. The situation is a bit unexpected."
"The Malfoy family is looking for me. Ten thousand Galleons is enough to make many guys in the gray area lose their minds. I think it will not be difficult for them to figure out the relationship between this shop and me. I think they will probably try to find me through my friends.
.”
"So, you burned down their house?"
"Do you have evidence? Be careful, I will sue you for defamation!" Albert turned his attention to Shanna again: "If you don't like this job, I still have a lot of manuscripts that need help editing and sorting. Of course, there is no salary.
This is high, but it is better than safety.”
"No need, I actually like this job." Shanna shook her head.
"so be it!"
After solving Zannah's problem, Albert turned his attention to the Weasley brothers again.
"After you are done with your work here, take the time to contact Zuko. Although the Ministry of Magic seems to be planning to arrange a patrol team in Hogsmeade, it may not be safe there."
At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside.
Several people took out their wands and were alert.
Lee Jordan glanced at the Marauder's Map and reminded: "It's Mr. Arthur, he's probably here to find you."
"Where are the Albertans?"
George discovered that Albert had disappeared from under their noses in the blink of an eye.
"have no idea."
Fred pushed the door open and walked out, greeting the people outside: "Why are you here?"
"Your mother was very worried when she found out about this." Arthur looked at his son, "You really don't plan to..."
"Don't worry about this. We will temporarily move to a safe house protected by the Loyalty Charm, and we will only do owl mail for a long time."
"We will have Dobby deliver the goods in the specialty store to your home, and then you will give them to Cedric." George added.
"Remember to take some time to go home and don't let your mother worry."
…
"Albert is really good at calling people!"
"Come on, aren't you glad you can take a break for yourself?" Lee Jordan wanted to go over and kick this hypocritical guy in the face.
If possible, he would like to talk to Zuko himself, but the house elves and Zannah alone can't do it. The items that have just arrived at the safe house need to be sorted out as soon as possible in order to be shipped to the students who are mail-ordered by Owl.
.
"Why did Albert invite Zuko to join?" Shanna asked in confusion.
"Someone has to stand in front!" George said meaningfully.
After changing into formal clothes, Fred and George left the safe house together and apparated directly to Hogsmeade.
There had just been a light rain, the hot summer days had quietly receded from Hogsmeade, and the weather had become cooler.
Fred and George walked towards the store they were familiar with.
The owner of Zuko's Joke Shop was sitting listlessly at the counter. Ever since the opening of the Weasley brothers' "House of Fun" took away all the business in the store, he realized that the joke shop might not be able to continue.
"welcome……"
When he saw someone entering the store, Zuko's eyes lit up. When he raised his head, he realized that the person was actually the culprit who almost closed down his store, and his face suddenly darkened.
"Why, what do you two want to see me for?"
Zuko suppressed the anger in his heart, but he still couldn't help but speak in a sinister tone.
There was no way, in Zuko's eyes, these two bastards in front of him were just here to make him unhappy, and it would be damned if they spoke in a pleasant tone.
Fred and George looked at each other, not paying attention to each other's sinister tone, and said straight to the point, "We are here to invite you."
"Invitation?" Zuko looked at the former customer with a strange expression.
"We're going to open a branch in Hogsmeade," George said.
"So, you plan to turn my store into your branch?" Zuko was stunned for a moment, and finally figured out what the other party was doing, and angrily roared at the two of them: "Get out, you are not welcome here, get out of here.
go out."
"you sure?"
George looked at Zuko who was losing his temper and reminded him calmly: "Your store has lost its core competitiveness and will go bankrupt sooner or later..."
Before George could finish his words, he saw a curse flying towards him and quickly turned his head to avoid it.
The angry Zuko glared at the group of evil guests in front of him. He had already raised his wand, intending to use a curse to drive them out.
However, he soon found that he could not move.
"do not be angry."
"He will definitely be angry!"
"Stop talking and we'll leave."
George looked helplessly at the old acquaintance who was bound and cursed in place. He couldn't help but shook his head and said, "I have to remind you that the closure of this store is normal competition. At least we didn't engage in those dirty tricks like you."
, don’t think that we don’t know what you did.”
"Think about it carefully. At least we are willing to share this cake with you, which is the greatest sincerity." George calmly explained the cruelest reality for Joko, "Of course, we don't mind waiting for your shop.
After it goes bankrupt, if you buy your store and reopen a new branch, or find another store to open a branch, you will definitely have nothing by then."
George was actually reluctant to share profits with others, but he felt that Albert might have other deeper meanings in doing so.
"Think carefully, and don't get into trouble with Garen." Fred smiled and patted Zuko's shoulder, took out the wand in Zuko's hand and put it on the counter, lest this guy would attack again out of nowhere after the spell was lifted.
They chant evil curses.
After the full body binding spell on Zuko was touched, he immediately rushed to the counter, took his wand and pointed it at the Weasley brothers who had disappeared from the door of the store, but in the end he did not run over to attack them because from the words of the other party,
Joko realized that the other party actually knew about all the unflattering tricks he used, and it was considered sincere to come and invite him.
However, in the eyes of Zuko, this matter was extremely hypocritical, but... Zuko shook his throat, rushed out of the store, looked at the two people who were about to walk away, and shouted: "Wait, you guys..."
"We don't know much about this. Albert will talk to you personally when the time comes." George stopped, turned to Zuko and said, "We just came over in advance to talk to you about this matter."
"Cooperation can lead to win-win results."
With that said, Fred and George walked towards the nearby owl postman. They were going to talk to the owner of the owl post office here about renting an owl.
"These bastards!"
Zuko smashed his fist on the door frame, looked at Fred and George's leaving figures, and roared angrily. He knew very well that the joke shop could no longer continue to operate. After losing its product advantage, his store would lose its core value.
Competitiveness, it will be a matter of time before they are eliminated, otherwise they would not want to try to suppress their stores through other means.
The plan failed.
Joko is a smart man!
He didn't want to leave in despair and lose all the galleons he had earned.
Yes, there is no need to make things more difficult.
At least it can have a decent ending.
Zuko suddenly wanted to see him.
What kind of guy is that young man named Albert Anderson?
Just when Zuko was returning to the store, he suddenly felt something behind him.
When he turned around suddenly, he suddenly felt that his whole body was light and airy, and the worries about the closure of the joke shop in his mind were wiped away, leaving only a hazy, invisible and intangible joy.